Ramallah, January 20 (QNA) - Palestinian officials and civil institutions have called out the takeover of the premises of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) by the Israeli occupation in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

In a statement, the institutions slammed the razing operations carried out by Israeli bulldozers at the main UNRWA building, which comprises numerous compounds, and the hoisting of the Israeli flag on it in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

The statement deemed the razing and raiding operations, as well as the displaying of Israeli might, as a move intended to eliminate the agency's operations and the right of Palestinian refugees to return under UN Resolution 194.

These operations are part of the ongoing episodes by the Israeli occupation targeting Palestinian tents in the northern West Bank, the statement acknowledged.

It called on the world to spring into action to halt these crimes and amplify the voice of the UN, which founded the agency and has been operating under its umbrella for 77 years.

The institutions demanded global action to counter occupation measures with concrete steps, including suspending Israel’s membership in the UN by a Security Council resolution if a veto is used to block such a resolution, and calling for an urgent meeting of the UNGA.

Meanwhile, Media Advisor for UNRWA Abu Hasna said what transpired was unprecedented and a crime under the umbrella of the occupation government.

The targeted compound had been overseeing UNRWA operations in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, comprising the office of the Commissioner-General, alongside an array of UN offices, Abu Hasna noted.

He stressed that the razing operations at dawn today inside the premises are considered an escalation against the UN in general, and not only toward UNRWA, suggesting that what is playing out is part of a perilous escalation of the situation in East Jerusalem, where the occupation closed six UNRWA-run schools and, today, clinics were shuttered. (QNA)